A Video Journal of Lake Superior

This video ran on a loop at the Duluth Art Institute’s “Water Works” show June 20 to Aug. 25, 2013. It hadn’t made it to the internet yet. (more…)

OutdoorsVideosLake SuperiorLake Superior Aquaman

Duluth’s bowery was already historic in 1907

Previous posts on Perfect Duluth Day have explored the history of the Fifth Avenue West corridor. Urban renewal in the 1960s attempted to “clean up” blighted areas of town. A recent research dive revealed that the bowery was already targeted for “renewal” as early as 1907.

“End of once notorious section is in sight” proclaimed one of the sub-headlines. That part of town has had many ups and downs over the years. (more…)

History
Ashwabay Alliance / Big Top Chautauqua
Weis Eye Center

Saltydog talks creative process, recording at Erickson house

Members of the band Saltydog on West Michigan Street near Bent Paddle Brewing in July 2023: Sam Deters, Owen Mahon, Gavin St. Clair, Jacob Mahon, Calvin Lund and Bryan Johnson. (Photo by Aaron Reichow)

Saltydog isn’t new anymore, hence the dropping of “New” from the band name. The Duluth-born jam band has accumulated an impressive cult following over the past seven years, playing venues across Minnesota and Wisconsin, including Duluth’s Bent Paddle Brewing on Monday nights. An enthusiastic group of funk and blues lovers seem to follow the band from show to show, along for the improvisational ride Saltydog takes them on. (more…)

MusicSaltydog

Duluth and the Climate Haven Bandwagon

The British Broadcasting Corporation mentions Duluth among the cities that have “jumped on the climate haven bandwagon.”

“But is any place really going to be spared from climate change?” the story asks. “And does moving to one of these cities represent a sustainable solution to the crisis?”

News and Current AffairsWeather and Climate
Pizza Luce: The Boss

Dollhouse City Streets

The latest video from Dollhouse City.

VideosGeeky

PDD Quiz: June 2024

Test your knowledge of June 2024 headlines with this week’s quiz!

A beach-themed PDD quiz floats your way on July 14. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by July 10. (more…)

News and Current AffairsPDD Quiz
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Happy 21st birthday to us!

Duluth’s Duluthiest website was launched 21 years ago today. Join us for a party on the beach at Park Point at 5 p.m. as the Park Point Art Fair wraps up.

RandomPDD Shop Talk

Postcard from the Car of the Aerial Bridge

This undated postcard from the V. O. Hammon Publishing Company shows Duluth’s Aerial Bridge circa 1905 to 1929, when a ferry car transferred people across the shipping canal.

HistoryAerial Lift BridgePostcardsV. O. Hammon Publishing Company
Glensheen

Big Sky Woody – “Cantina Diablo”

MusicBig Sky Woody

Duluth is No. 10 on CNN’s Best Towns to Visit in 2024

“Duluth is proving to be a Superior travel spot,” according to CNN, “thanks to its lakeside setting, outdoor activities and creative spirit.” The Zenith City landed at No. 10 on the cable news channel’s list of “American’s Best Towns to Visit.”

News and Current AffairsCNNTravel Propaganda
Glensheen
PDDXXIII

Indecent Proposal – “Albright”

Duluth band Indecent Proposal‘s latest video was shot at the Historic Duluth Armory. It was produced by Clear Cut Media in association with Henriette Jensen Blade.

MusicVideosIndecent Proposal

Above & Below: The rise, fall, and rise of the Duluth underground

The July 2004 issue of Twin Cities monthly magazine The Rake included a feature on the Duluth music scene. The Rake existed from 2002 to 2008 and its archives, including the Duluth article, are available online. The text of the now 20-year-old story also appears below, with images from the magazine. (more…)

ArtHistoryMusicBrad NelsonGreen ManHomegrown Music FestivalRipsawWussow's Concert Cafe
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Big Into – “Tiki Bar”

Marinate the pork butts, it’s time to hit the tiki bar with Iron Range natives Curtis Kraft Mattson and Jozef Conaway. Their band Big Into is releasing a music video every month for each new track off their upcoming EP. (more…)

MusicVideosBig Into

PDD Shop Talk: Duluth’s Duluthiest website celebrates 21 years

On Saturday, June 29, Perfect Duluth Day will be 21 years old. Because the anniversary falls on a day loaded with events, we’ve decided to loosely piggyback on one of them and hold our little birthday party on Park Point Beach as the Park Point Art Fair wraps up. We hope you’ll join us. (more…)

RandomPDD Shop Talk
Ashwabay Alliance / Big Top Chautauqua
Pizza Luce: The Boss

PDD Geoguessr #20: Twin Ports Area Beaches

Park Point in the summer. (Photo by Matthew James)

With the official start of summer upon us, any upcoming day has at least the potential of becoming a beach day. But where to go? Park Point is always an option but are there more interesting alternatives? (more…)

OutdoorsGeoguessr Challenges

Wisconsin dairy set to open specialty cheese shop at RiverWest

New Duluth store manager Jessy Peterson, left, and Vice President of Retail Operations Jamie Swan stand in front of the cheese cases at the Burnett Dairy Cooperative store in Alpha, Wisconsin. The new Duluth store will feature a similar layout. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)

Duluth cheese lovers will have an extraordinary place to shop for their provolone, cheddar and curds next month when an award-winning Wisconsin dairy opens a large specialty store in a newly developed section of the Riverside neighborhood below Spirit Mountain. (more…)

News and Current AffairsRestaurantsRiverside
YAF /Grandma\'s Whipper Snapper Race
Weis Eye Center

Cherry Koch: Homebody

Minnesota Public Radio reports Duluth artist Cherry Koch is working on a new series of paintings called “Homebody,” is preparing for an Aug. 24 fashion show at The Main Club, will put the series “Rug on Fire,” back on view again for Duluth Superior Pride in August and September, and is co-curating the group show called “The Gayest Art Show Ever” at Prøve Gallery which opens Aug. 30.

ArtCherry Koch

Duluth Band Stickers

In the aftermath of the 2024 Homegrown Music Festival a few band stickers that got crammed into jacket pockets and tossed onto shelves have been assembled into a tiny pile at the Perfect Duluth Day World Headquarters. Which got us to wondering how many there are in total, either stuck to something or crammed into drawers. It turns out, maybe not that many. The initial search at PDDHQ turned up only ten, but there might be more hiding in forgotten spots. So consider this post a work in progress, and please share images of the local band stickers you’ve got on your bumpers, lockers or the paper-towel dispensers of your favorite drinking establishments. (more…)

MusicCollections and Memorabilia
Pizza Luce: The Boss

Postcards from the “Three Spot”

Featured here are postcards of Duluth & Iron Range Railroad locomotive No. 3, known as “Three Spot.” It has been on display at the D&IR Depot in Two Harbors since 1923. (more…)

HistoryKreiman's Lyceum News & BookstorePostcardsRailroad IndustryTwo HarborsZenith Interstate News Company

Austin Castle – “Creek Water”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oEb3s5oKUM

Austin Castle, with Cole Mikel on guitar, performs “Creek Water” in the Board of Trade Lofts in Duluth. The video was shot by Holden Law and Andrew Mathews.

MusicVideosAustin Castle
PDDXXIII
Weis Eye Center

PDD Quiz: Superior Hiking Trail

A sign for the Superior Hiking Trail at Temperance River State Park on the North Shore of Lake Superior, Minnesota.

Lace up your boots and pack your GORP for this week’s PDD quiz about the Superior Hiking Trail!

The next PDD quiz, coming your way on June 30, will review the news that made headlines this month. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by June 25. (more…)

OutdoorsPDD QuizSuperior Hiking Trail

Ripped at Ray’s Bar in 2004

[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Twenty years ago the Sultan of Sot paid a visit to Ray’s Bar in the Town of Superior and composed this article for the June 2004 issue of the Ripsaw magazine. The establishment was more recently known as the Shortstop Bar, but is presently not in operation.]

About a year ago, I took a little tour of South Superior where, after wiping his piss on my neck, the drunken bartender at the Rusty Nail advised me to head down the road to Ray’s Bar. “Ray will shit on you for sure,” he said, inadvertently describing South Superior hospitality to a tee.

Now I didn’t exactly just fall off the turnip truck. I know some people are into that sort of thing, and I’m sure a lot of them haunt the thickets of South Superior. But as for me, I’m not much for excrement. Nonetheless, when faced with the choice of dealing with the Paris Hilton wannabes and renegade security guards at the latest version of the NorShor Theatre or wrestling with a psychotic South Superiorite wielding his own crap, I’ll head out on the highway every time. (more…)

HistoryBars / Drinking EstablishmentsSaturday Essay
Weis Eye Center
Glensheen

Cloud Cult – “As Beautiful as it Hurts”

The new video from Cloud Cult is for the second single from the band’s upcoming album Alchemy Creek, which is set for release Aug. 8. The album was written, recorded and produced by front man Craig Minowa in the solitude of a tiny cabin on wheels in the middle of the Wisconsin woods after a difficult divorce.

The video was directed by Lauren Josephine, Jeff D. Johnson and Chad Amour of Motion 117 Productions.

MusicVideosCloud Cult

100 Years of Intercity Highway, or Highway 61 Revisited

Highway 1 monument at 66th Avenue West and Westgate Boulevard. (Photos by David James)

A monument a couple blocks north of I-35 in the front yard of a quiet residential neighborhood commemorates the upcoming opening of Minnesota Trunk Highway No. 1. It was erected on June 13, 1924, 100 years ago today. A recent post on this site featured a photo describing a campground along this Highway, which led to a brief discussion of just what this Highway 1 was and what became of it. (more…)

HistoryHighway 61Transportation
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Glensheen

Perfect Duluth Day Outdoor Summer Concert Primer 2024

The Northwood’s Band performed an outdoor show last week at Eveleth’s Timber Edge Bar and Grill, bringing a large crowd out to enjoy a pre-summer concert. (Photo by Izabella Zadra)

Put on those short shorts and tank tops, the summer concert season is upon us. The Twin Ports area is always bumpin’ with outdoor shows featuring a vast array of music styles on a variety of mostly temporary or makeshift stages. Take a dive with us into some of the best, don’t-wanna-miss concerts happening in the area over the hot months ahead. (more…)

MusicGuides and Lists